Portable support for electric lamps



July 30, 1929. A. B. STEWART 1,722,773

PORTABLE SUPPORT 'FOR ELECTRIC LAMPS Filed April 28,- 1927 Patented July 30, 1929.

UNITED STATES-PATENT OFFICE,

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PORTABLE SUPPORT FOR ELECTRIC LAMPS.

Application filed April 28, 1927. Serial No. 187,231.

Thisinvention relates to a portable and adjustable support for electric lamps which can be readily attached to a suitable support, and b means of which an electric lamp ma be rea 'l adjusted 'and held or supported 1n any deslred adjusted position.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple, economical and eflicient portable adjustable support for electric lamps.

w A further object of the invention is to provide an improved portable support or holder for electric lamps including means for providing universal adjustability of the electric lamp, or meanswhereby the lamp may be readily adjusted-and supported or held in any desired position relatively to its support or relatively to" any particular ob ect, and

a'dapted to enable the lamp and reflector to be adjusted or tilted in any desired directlon, and turned upon any desired axis in any desired direction and held in any desired adjusted position without the necessity of operating any adjusting screws or tightening or releasing any clamps or similar connectlng and releasing means in order to make such.

adjustments.

It is particularly desirable to provide an improved portable adjustable support or holder for electric lamps, including means whereby the lamp may be turned entirely around or part way around in either direction on any desired vertical, horizontal or inclined axis to any desired adjusted or operative position, either upright, inverted or inclined, and held in such positions of adjustment, while the support-engaging clamp of such device is detachably secured in engagement with any suitable support.

Other and further objects of the invention will appear from the following descripv tion and claims, and from an inspection of the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof.

The invention consists in the features, combinations, details of construction, and arrangement of parts herein described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings- 7 Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a portable and adjustable support for electric lamps, constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation of my improved lamp support, showing the same attached to a lamp socket, the lamp socket being shown in end elevation;

Fi 3 is a view in side elevation of a modified orm of my improved support for electric lamps, showingthe same in side elevation, with the resilient support-engaging clamp with the lamp-engaging clamp, as

shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and Fig. 6 is a similar detail view of the connecting mechanism for connecting the lampengaging clamp with the support-enga in clamp, with the intermediate connecting all of the one-ball type shown in Figs. 3 and 4, inverted end for end.

My improved lamp support, as applied to a lamp 1 having a socket2, bulb 3. and hood 4, is constructed as follows:

A lamp-engaging clamp 5 is provided, which is, by preference, in the form of a split sleeve or flexible collar which is adapted to encircle or embrace, and to be clamped securely in frictional clamping engagement with the lamp socket 2.. The lamp-engaging clamp is provided with a pair of projecting clamping arms 6, which are, by preference,

spaced apart and each provided with a cupshaped depression 7 in the outer or projecting end thereof. The cup-shaped portions of the clamping arms thus form opposed relatively adjustable spaced-apart socket portions or members 8 of a socket. The socket 8 thus formed by and between said clamping arms is adapted to receive a ball 9 which is, by preference, adapted to be mounted in and in adjustable frictional engagement with said on the sai 'on the ball or support on whic eniiging clamp is thus ad ustably mounted. 1

u port-engaging clamp 12 is provided which, ypreference, comprises a pair of resilient clamping arms 13, 13 having crossed support-engaging ends 14, 14 bent to form gripping or clamping jaws or loops 15, 15.

aid resilient clamping arms 13, 13 are connected at their opposite extremities b means ofv an inte ral loop orcoil 16 whic forms an integra flexible connection between sa1d clamping arms. The coil 16 is, by preference, helical and, has a 'suflicient number of turns so that an inner lap or. coil 17 is formed between the outer laps or turns of the coil, thus affording suificient freedom and extent of movement of the clamping arms, the clamping ends of which are adapted to be detachably attached to and supported in any desired position upon any convenient or suitable support. The support-engaging clamp 12 is thus adapted to be removably secured to any suitable support either in upright, horizontal or any desired inclined position which circumstance may require and permit.

A socket-forming connecting clip 18 is mounted on the coil 16, by preference, in position to extend lengthwise of the supportengaging clamp 12, and to project endwise beyond the closed end of the clamp which is formed by the coil. The clip 18 may be made in one or more pieces, but is, by reference, formed in one piece and bent to orm projecting clamping arms 19, 19 the outer ends of which are spaced apart and provided with depressions on their inner opposed sides, thus forming cup-shaped socket portions or members 20, 20 which are adapted to receive a ball 21, or equivalent element within the socket 20 thus formed between said clamping arms. The ball 21 is by preference, connected with and in fixed relation to the ball 9 already described, by means of a connecting neck or body 22, said connected balls and neck or connecting body thus forming an intermediate connecting member having said connected, and preferably integral balls 21 and 9 on opposite ends of the connecting member. The socket-forming clip 18 is mounted in position to extend through and embrace between the connected or integral arms 19, one or. more of the laps or turns of the .coil 16;- and means for tightening the clampin arms '19 upon said coil and on said ball 21 is provided, said tightening means being, by preference, in the form of a threaded bolt 23 mounted in and extending through suitable openings in said clamping arms 19,

'19, and havinga nut in threaded engage:

ment with said bolt and adapted to enable the clamping arms 19 to be simultaneously he intermediate connecting member comprising connected, and preferably integral balls 21 and 9, and the connecting body or neck 22, is thus held in universally ad ust able relation to and has universal movement with respect to both of the clamping members or clamps and socket members 5 and 18, and with respect to the lamp and'the support-engaging clamp respectively. The lamp and the support-engaging clamp 12, which supports said lamp, are thus connected in unlversally adjustable relation to each other, and are adapted to be moved in any and all directions relatively to each other to any desired position or successive positions of adjustment, and are adapted to be securely held in any desired position or positions of adjustment and without requiring the turning of a screw or bolt or the manipulation of a clamp for the purpose'of securing the parts in any posit-ion to which they are adapted to be adjusted relatively to each other.

The lamp may thus be readily moved to or adjusted and held in either upright, horizontal, depending, or inverted, or any desired inclined position while the supportengaging clampv is in any position on any suitable support'to which it is attached for use.

In the form of the device shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, the lamp and the support-engaging clamp 12 are connected in universally movable and adjustable relation, and adapted to be held in any position of adjustment,- by connecting means constructed as above described.

' In the form of device constructed. in accordance with my invention, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the socket-engaging or lampengaging clamp 5, and the support-engagin clamp 12 and coil 16 are constructed in a5 substantial respects as already described in connection with said Figs. 1, 2 and 5. But the lamp-engaging clampand the supportengaging coil 12 are provided with ball and socket connections, or substantially universally adjustable connecting means which comprises a socket-forming clamping and connecting member or device 24 which may have clamping arms 25, 25, formed either in one integral piece or in separate pieces as shown, said clamping arms being adapted to extend on opposite sides of the inner coil 17, and between said inner coil and the outer laps of the coil 16, as shown in Fig. 4. When made in separate pieces, said clamping arms 25, 25 are connected by suitable means,'.sueh, for exam 1e, as headed and threaded bolts 26 and 2 having threaded nuts thereon, one of said bolts being located inside'of the coil and the other outside of the coil, and both being mounted in and extending through suitable III perforations in said clampingv arms, and

7 adapted to hold the same in, preferably, fixed clamping engagement with the inner turn 17 of the coil. The clamping arms 25 may be provided at their outer separated ends either with approximately flat or cup-shaped end site end of which is provided with a head 31 which may be flat on both sides, or may have conical or convex side surface pch'tions on one or both sides ada ted to engage and to be secured in adjusta 1e frictional engagement with corresponding approximately flat,

or conical or concave inner faces of the adj a cent end portions 28 of said clamfng arms. And a bolt 32 extends through the parts 28 and 31.

The connecting member comprising the connected ballsv 9 and 21 and the connecting neck or body 22 may be either formed in one integral piece, or stamped in two halvesextending longitudinally and secured together by rivets or welding, so as to form a hollow connecting member; or the balls may be hollow or provided with an axial openin through the centers thereof and fixed to the opposite ends of the connecting neck 22 which may thus extend into said balls.

The connecting member 29 comprising the ball 30 and head 31' connected by a connecting neck is adaptedto be either connected with the lamp-engaging clamp 5 by having the ballclamped between and in' adjustable engagement with the clamping arms 6, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, with the head 31 con nected in adjustable relation to the supporteng'aging clamp, or to be reversed end for end, as shown in Fig. 6, with the ball 30 clamped between and in adjustable frictional engagement with socket-forming arms 19 of the socket-forming clip 18 on the coil 16, and

with the head 31 clamped between and in adjustable relation to the projecting clamping arms 6, 6 on and, by preference, in-

tegral with the split sleeve or lamp-en aging clamp or sleeve which encircles or em races the lamp socket. The clamping arms 6' are secured to the head 31 by means of a threaded bolt 33 extending through suitable transverse openingsin said connected parts 6', 6' and 31, and having a nut on the threaded end of said bolt, as shown in Fig. 6.

From the foregoing description, it will be readily understood that the ball andsocket connection between the intermediate connecting member and the lamp-engaging socket, including the ball 9, or the ball 30, as the case may be, and the socket members 8 on the socket 5, are movable bodily upon an axis or axes at the center of the ball 21 or at the center of the head 31, where the intermediate connecting member is connected inadjustable relation to the support-en aging clamp, and that the connecting means or connecting the socket-engaging clamp in adjustable relation to the support-engaging clamp, above described and shown, includes means for securing the lamp-engaging clamp, and the ball and socket which forms theconnection between the lamp-engaging clamp, in any position of adjustment, and also includes means for securing the intermediate connecting meinber in any desired predetermined position of adjustment with respect to both the lamp-engaging clamp and the support-engaging clamp.

The socket-forming or connecting clips 18 and 24 may be secured in gripping or clamping engagement with the coil so as to provide a sufliciently tight engagement to hold said clips in any position of adjustment on the coil, but permit the adjustment of the clips upon the coil or upon an axis located at the center of the coil, to any desired predetermined position of adjustment.

I claim:

1. A lamp-supporting device of the class described, comprising a lamp-engaging clamp having a socket thereon, a support-em g gaging clamp comprising a pair of clampballs, one of said balls being on one end of said connecting member and in adjustable frictional engagement with the socket on said lamp-engaging clamp and forming with said socket a universal joint between said intermediateconnecting member and said lampengaging clamp, and the other one of sa1d balls being on the opposite end of said intermediate connecting member and in adjustable frictional engagement with said socket on said coiland forming. with said socket a universal joint between said intermediate connecting member and the supportengaging clamp, and means for tightening said sockets in adjustable frictional engagement with the balls contained therein.

2. A lamp-supporting device of the class described, comprising a lampengaging clamp having a socket thereon, a supportengaging clamp comprising a pair of clamping arms provided with a coil forming a resilient integral connection between said clamping arms, a clip mounted on said coil and forming a socket, an intermediate connecting member comprising a pair of connected balls, one of said balls being on one end of said connecting member and in adjustable frictional engagement with the socket on said lamp-engaging clamp and forming with said pocket a universal joint between said member and the support-en aging clamp, and intermediate connecting member and said means for tightening sai sockets on said to lamp-en clam and the other one of -balls res ectively.

saidbal s ing on t e opposite end of said Si e at Chicago, in the county of Cook 5 connecting member and in adjustable fricand tate of Illino1s, this 26th day of April,

tional engagement with the socket on said coil 1927. l

and forming with said socket a universal joint between said intermediate connecting ANDREW B. STEWART. 

